Rain
by WikketKrikket
Summary: Kyouya does not like the rain at all. Not one bit, in fact. There are plenty of good reasons why he doesn't, but perhaps he's going to find out it's not SO bad after all... Oneshot, KyouHaru, Author name changed from Waffles4eva


Rain

Rain.

Kyouya did not like it. One bit.

Of course, he understood that:

"The rain is back, to caress the curve of the earth with it's tenderness, to breathe nourishment back into the soil, to sustain it and us all! Rain is our connection with nature, beating down on us to remind us that there are greater powers! Rain can wash away fears and sadness and doubt and muffle all sounds! Let it fall, let it fall…"

He also knew:

"Wow! I bet the ducks like it, right?"

And:

"Rain makes things slippery…"

"People will have to be careful they don't _accidentally _slip over…"

And even, in a surprisingly long speech:

"Rain clears mind and soul. It's pure."

At least, that was what his friends told him. But even _if _rain had certain virtues was it _really _necessary to have a whole season of it? It caused so much difficulty. So much awkwardness. Everything had to be kept dry or everything was constantly wet. It irritated him.

And it made so much _noise _on the windows, on the roof. He lay in bed that early morning, the third morning, and cursed it.

The rainy season. Kyouya did not care for it. At least, not yet.

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"Kyouya! You made it!" Tamaki cried happily, leaping down off the radiator next to the steamed up windows as his friend entered the classroom. "I thought you'd drowned!"

And he laughed. As if he was being witty.

Kyouya merely answered with: "Just say good morning. You're being irritating."

"Good morning." Tamaki said, used by now to Kyouya's black mood during the rainy season. He knew better than to sulk when Kyouya had no patience for it.

"Morning." Kyouya replied, removing his glasses. They were ridiculously wet and steamed up, and it was only a short walk from the car to the school. He pulled out a cloth that had yet to be dampened- he hadn't been out in the rain long enough- and proceeded to dry them. The girls watched him looking intently at them, and wished he would focus as much on them; as he handled them with care. His eyes seemed so deep without them, so concentrated, so mysterious. They wondered what he was thinking behind those sharpened eyes.

The answer to their question was something like this:

_All this rain! Does it serve no purpose other than to irritate me?! These glasses! Why can't they make them water resistant? Scratch that, why doesn't the rain just stop?!_

As he stared through a short-sighted haze trying to see what he was doing.

Then he heard a strangled yell and turned to see what was happening. He did so, perfectly calmly, and made out that Tamaki had slipped on part of the floor where someone had left a wet coat. Right.

"Idiot." He said to his friend, with absolutely no intention of helping him up.

Tamaki, his dignity already thoroughly compromised, clambered back to his feet. "You could have helped me."

"How?" Kyouya replied, replacing his now dry glasses. "I couldn't see you."

Perhaps there were a few advantages.

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"Mayfair!" Hikaru cheered, landing on the most valuable spot on the board. "I'll buy it! Here we go!" He handed over some of the monopoly money to Haruhi, who dutifully sorted it out. She'd somehow been elected the banker, because, apparently, she was the least likely to ever buy property.

Charming.

"Well done, Hikaru!" Kaoru replied, smiling. Then it faded a little. "Of course, I'd hate to land there…"

"Kaoru…" His brother took his hand and looked down on him. "How could I ever charge you? You know everything I have is yours."

"Hikaru…"

Girls screamed. Haruhi rolled her eyes. All was normal, natural- or as close as it got in the Host Club. Today, the twins, Haruhi, and their designators were in a game of Monopoly. It was almost skilful, the way they changed even that into an opportunity to do their odd little routine. Haruhi refused to call it a 'talent'. The idea of that repulsed her. However, she had yet to find a suitable word for them.

Well, none that she could ever say aloud. So, instead, she proceeded to berate them.

"Come on, Hikaru, it's not really fair if you charge everyone except Kaoru. What are the other players supposed to do?"

He pouted. "You're the one who said we couldn't play together."

"Yes, to make up numbers! And it's _you _who said I shouldn't play!"

"Um…" One girl put in, before an argument could take place. "Perhaps we should get Kyouya-senpai to play, and then the twins could play together. He seems lonely."

The other hosts looked fearfully across the room, where the shadow king was typing away. Even the typing sounded loud and angry, stabbing at the keys. As Haruhi had recently discovered, it was best not to let Kyouya have designators during the rainy season. He sat in the corner exuding an evil aura that tainted the air around him, a metallic taste in their mouths. Kyouya must have sensed their gaze, because he suddenly looked and glared. They hastily continued their game. His mood in rain was no better than his mood when woken up from sleep.

Kyouya watched them play for a moment longer. What an idiotic game Monopoly was for people like them. Like the twins would ever worry about their own money management when they could pay people to do it for them. The game was hardly useful to Haruhi, either- and no substitute for her walking the real streets of London, particularly when she wasn't really playing. He wondered vaguely what she'd think of the Covent Gardens, with the markets and the trinkets and the living statues and three foot tall unicycles. She'd probably enjoy all those things.

He hadn't.

It had been raining then too.

"Kyouya-senpai, cup of tea?" A brave Haruhi had dared to venture over to his table, offering a cup from their tray. He noticed the twins and the trio's designators watching him, as well as the (sulking at his exclusion from the game) Tamaki, Honey, Mori, and all their customers too. He didn't like being stared at anymore than he liked the constant barrage of rain, so he decided to wind up the starers-cum-rainy-season-fans a little:

"Only if you'd join me for it." He said, smiling a little. Haruhi shrugged at sat down as some of the girls gasped and Tamaki had a silent fit. She poured for them both and the two sat in the corner for a quiet cup of tea. The others could do nothing about it.

"I hate this weather…" Haruhi mumbled, looking out of the window. Now that Kyouya had actually been somewhat close to sociable, she wouldn't let it pass in silence. Besides, she had tired of Monopoly many years ago.

"I agree." Kyouya said, flatly, glad to find someone else who was relatively sane. "Rain is so irritating and troublesome."

Haruhi nodded. "Too right. Not to mention when it thunders…" She sighed quickly and added: "I'll look forward to the end of rainy season."

"Now, _that _I'll drink to." Kyouya answered, and sipped the tea at last. It was wonderfully hot and fragrant on a cold, miserable, _wet _day. He'd thought he'd had enough liquid to last a life time, but…

Tea was another matter entirely. Tea was different.

Now, if it was _tea _that was running down the windows like the Thames, or falling in stinging needles from the sky…

Kyouya cut his train of thought off. He was turning into an idiot.

This was what rain did to you, apparently.

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He had not been informed there was a problem. None of them had. Although he had of course known that she came to school on public transport- namely, the train- and that the train station was a ten minute walk from the school, he had not considered this particular problem. None of them had. The problem was this:

Haruhi having to walk through the rain to get to school.

The problem was also this:

She did not own an umbrella.

But, the main problem was this:

She had no intention to invest in one. Not because, as they'd assumed, money was too tight to allow luxuries, but because they were 'troublesome' when they got buffeted by the winds and she dried out within half an hour anyway.

It was idiotic.

Didn't he say that rain turned people into idiots?

So now they were at the club, having just heard her casually say that she was not looking forward to walking back to the train station in the rain.

"Haruhi, have a lift!" Tamaki was saying, earnestly. "If not to your house, at least to the train station!"

"No." She said flatly, in a tone that rather suggested that she'd rather drown then let him fuss so. "It's not that far to walk, senpai."  
"But you'll catch a cold!"

"I haven't so far, and it's been raining for almost two weeks now."

Two weeks? Kyouya glared out at the ever black sky. Had it _only _been two weeks? It seemed like the heavens had been open for months already. Wasn't Japan already saturated enough?

He decided that next year he would simply hibernate through the rainy season. So what if humankind wasn't designed that way? Screw human nature, and responsibilities. He'd already established that the world turned into idiots when it was wet, so how productive would it be anyway?

"But it isn't safe! Let me take you!"

"No!"

"Haruhi, if you don't want to go with _him, _we could-"

"No!"

"Haru-chan," Honey was saying worriedly. "With all this rain, what if you-"

"No! Thanks for your concern, but it's honestly okay!" Haruhi was saying, with more then a hint of frustration now.

"Mom, tell her!" Tamaki, equally frustrated, forced Kyouya to join a debate he had no desire to be involved with. So he just shrugged.

"If she wants to go and get herself ill, that's her decision. It's nothing to do with you, so stop meddling. I'm sure she's more than capable of looking after herself."

Tamaki looked crushed. Haruhi looked relieved.

"Finally, someone gets it!"

"Just note, Haruhi, that if you go off sick, I'm adding the money lost to your debt."

That changed her expression somewhat. But if she wanted to be that dumb, fine. They'd only been trying to get her out of the wet. Though, it had to be admitted, he admired her strength and determination.

Even if she was being as idiotic about it as the others.

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The drab predictions turned out to be as unstoppable as the weather. That day, the rain was even worse than usual, not falling in drops but in rivers. People were getting soaked to the bone just coming from the gates to the school buildings as water poured down on them, spinning and tumbling down from the sky, hitting like bullets, everything swelling and saturated, flooded. Even Tamaki had known better than to approach Kyouya without good cause- or even with it, half the time- that day. Still, after morning registration that day, when his jacket was starting to steam and was almost dry, he felt the tiniest bit more optimistic. Perhaps that's what stopped him shooting the double bearers of bad news.

"Kyouya-senpai!" The twins called in the corridor in a tone of voice that sounded so much like they weren't worried they obviously were. "Haruhi isn't here!"

"What?" Kyouya snapped. The idea was absurd. Haruhi had a perfect attendance score- she couldn't afford much else if she wanted to keep her scholarship. "Why?"

The twins shrugged. "She probably caught a cold."

Kyouya didn't like the thought her being ill anymore than he liked the rain- perhaps it was the doctor in him. But it must have taught her a lesson, at least. Still, how bothersome- and he hated situations he couldn't change. With a resigned sigh, he instructed them not to tell Tamaki; who was headed in the opposite direction to his first lesson. Kyouya left the twins and continued on his way, listening to the delighted chatter of rain-reduced idiots and the constant rhythmic drive of the rain. It really was awful, and so dark and windy. He almost didn't blame Haruhi for staying in bed.

Would he still make good his threat to add to her debt? Yes.

Well, as far as she and anyone else knew. If he added to it as much as he said he did, she'd never have a hope of paying it off. Ever. But it was good to tell her he was- it kept her on her toes.

Even if he didn't always actually go through with it.

Or often.

Or even occasionally.

Whatever. He couldn't let her or anyone else see a weakness, after all, like having the compassion not to charge people what they couldn't pay.

He was already sure she'd _have _to stay until he graduated anyway.

At any rate, the third music room was on his way to class, so he paused at the door and went in. One of many of the 'frivolities' of this school, as Haruhi called them, was that you had a good five minutes between classes, even following the long registration period. So he should have more than enough time to find out who Haruhi was meant to be serving that night and thereby arrange a suitable way to make it up to them.

He hated jobs like this, too. He hated crawling to people. He almost envied Haruhi in a way, because with her straight forward nature and commoner status it seemed she never had to. It seemed she could just stand before the world as she was and see them as they were and say so.

Or, as she was now aptly demonstrating, she could stand in the doorway, soaked to the bone, dripping on carpets that probably cost more than her home, and fume quietly.

Kyouya looked up in surprise. "Haruhi? The twins said you were off sick."

Haruhi gave him such a look even he felt slightly unnerved and she muttered incoherently something about 'stupid rain flooding the stupid train tracks and the stupid drivers slipping on the stupid wet roads and stopping the stupid buses' and other such things until, as far as he could gather at least, she'd ended up walking all the way. In this weather.

What an idiot.

She stomped off behind one of the curtains to change. One benefit of being in the Host Club was that there was normally a spare uniform to use. Kyouya waited patiently until she came out a minute or so later, and produced a towel that he held out to her. She came to get it, and he could see how wet she was- even in dry clothes, patches were sticking to her wet skin. Water was dripping down her face, like tears, almost; coming from her hair that was flattened and shapeless, saturated. She came to take the towel from him, and he noticed how much her hands were shaking from the cold.

"You're an idiot." He stated.

"Thanks." She answered, grumpily, rubbing her head. He tried not to get distracted with how this messed up her hair, sticking it up in little spikes here and there and focus on the task at hand.

"You shouldn't have walked."

"What else could I do? Skip a day?" She looked at him, a little worried, as the bell rang- signalling that they were now late. "Oh, great. Please tell me that's the bell for lesson one…"

Kyouya nodded, and she began heading for the door. Yet, he caught hold of her, just catching her hand. It was so cold, it surprised him.

"Haruhi. Where are you going?" He said, calmly.

"Class." She answered, as though he were mad. He could hear a slight jitter in her voice- her teeth were still chattering, she was still shivering. "Come on, we're late."

He glared at her. "You need to warm up first. Remember what I said would happen if you caught cold?" He pulled her forcibly over to the sofas in the middle of the room, practically forced her to sit down. "You're shaking, so don't deny it. Put this over you for now." He threw the towel at her and she dutifully wrapped it over her freezing hands. Later, as he passed a hot cup to her, she transferred it over to her feet, which she had peeled wet socks from and was attempting to warm this way. The socks were steaming on the radiator- she'd have to go without for an hour or two.

"Careful." He warned, as she clasped the cup. "If you warm your fingers up too fast, it's going to hurt."

She'd just taken a sip of the drink and almost spurted it everywhere. He'd assumed, worryingly, it had been the cold that had been causing her to shake still; but after she had awkwardly swallowed it seemed he had been wrong- she was laughing.

At him.

"How rude." He commented.

"Sorry…" She spluttered. "It's just… I never imagined you… being so kind… making a fuss… it's ridiculous!"

Kyouya looked hurt. "Charming. My family are in charge of hospitals, you know. It would only be natural I'd have some concern over illness."

"That doesn't mean you had to be concerned with me- beyond the profit of the club, of course." She answered. "Thanks."

Then she smiled at him. He'd seen her smile like that before, at the others, when she was pleased with or grateful to them. But never at him. He looked down, embarrassed, mortified with the suspicion his neck and ears were going red.

"You've stopped shaking." He said, with an air of authority. "You may go to class now."

"You'd better go as well." She rebuked, softly, standing. "I've made you late too, haven't I? I guess we'd better g-"

And then, the best and worst possible sound:

The rumble of thunder.

She froze.

"Haruhi-" He started, well aware of her fear after the incident with Hikaru. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, but then:

A flash of dazzling light. It shot across the room, stabbing, casting shadows. She got movement back, yelping a little and suddenly back on the sofa, huddling in the cushions. He could feel her heat beat through the material between them, it was pounding so hard.

That… wasn't healthy.

"Haruhi, calm down." He said, totally calm himself. She took a deep breath- but then it struck again, and that was the end of that.

"You should go to class, Kyouya-senpai." She said, after a small whimper that she evidently tried to suppress. "I'm fine."

The thunder and lightning again. She pressed her eyes tight shut, shook a little.

"Are you, indeed?" Kyouya sighed. He wasn't much of a comforter. So he moved just a little closer, so she knew he was near. He then proceeded to explain the exact science of the phenomenon of thunder, and therefore why it was nothing to fear. He waited for her to answer, but none came.

She was asleep. Had gradually sagged over to rest on his shoulder, and he'd assumed she was just seeking comfort.

Surely, he wasn't _that _boring.

Thunder crashed and boomed and the lightning danced around the room again. This was a bad storm, and he didn't have the heart to wake her to it. He supposed it must be some kind of commoner defence mechanism, to sleep through bad situations that people like him could pay to go away. Like how you always saw commoners asleep on coach journeys because they couldn't afford a plane, he supposed.

But what about now?

He couldn't stay there, with her asleep.

He couldn't leave her alone, or wake her.

He decided to stay. After all, Hikaru and Tamaki had both helped her through storms in the past, they'd kill him if he 'abandoned' her.

And, all things considered, this was far more pleasant then a maths lesson.

So the thunder continued to rumble and groan, and the lightning continued to flash, Haruhi continued to sleep, and the rain continued to fall. It wasn't the only one falling for something, someone, either.

Kyouya felt a little more friendly towards the rain after that.

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End file.
